PENANG DUN | Penang will soon have a low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) to boost its airport performance as the federal government is seeking new ways to expand the state's airport capacity.

"Lack of funds is one of the reasons why Putrajaya is seeking a partnership with private sector companies like AirAsia to work on the airport expansion as soon as possible," 

"This involves the building of an LCCT as soon as possible," Lim Guan Eng (Harapan-Air Putih) told the Penang Legislative Assembly today.

Lim, the former chief minister of the state and current finance minister, said the Penang International Airport's expansion project was necessary as the airport had recorded 7.1 million passengers last year – exceeding the airport's 6.5 million per year maximum capacity.

"In June this year, it is learnt that the passenger capacity had increased by 10 percent. However, the airport expansion project involving Putrajaya and Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) lacks funds.

"Therefore, we are exploring new public-private partnership projects, so that our development plans can be implemented, although the government lacks the funds to do so," he quipped.

Lim said this during the debate on the speech of Penang governor Abdul Rahman Abbas in the state assembly.

His remarks follow Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandez's courtesy visit to Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow at his office in Komtar.

Explaining national issues

In his speech, Lim tried to explain why certain plans in the Harapan manifesto, like the abolishment of tolls, could not be implemented yet as the federal government lacks funds.

He reminded the assembly about the RM1 trillion debt and liabilities left by the previous BN administration, and how the current Harapan administration was dealing with the after-effects of the 1MDB scandal.

At one point, house speaker Law Choo Kiang remarked that he felt as if he was in Parliament.

To this, Lim replied that he had to explain the current situation in the federal government, as some promises in Harapan's manifesto could not be fulfilled.